Quarry firm fined £50k for badly planned blast

Falling rocks narrowly avoided hitting workers as they landed well outside the designated blast zone at Moons Hill Quarry, Stoke St Michael near Shepton Mallet on 7th February 2012. Rocks also fell onto a public highway.

Frome-based WCD Sleeman & Sons Ltd, which organised the blast, was prosecuted last week (27th February) after an investigation by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) identified serious control failings.

Bristol Crown Court heard that the blast had not been properly planned. Too much explosive was used in an area where the ground was already broken and measures put in place to reduce risks were inadequate.

WCD Sleeman & Sons Ltd, of Valley View, Vallis Park, Frome, was fined £30,000 and ordered to pay £20,000 in costs after pleading guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

The court was told that the firm was prosecuted by the HSE in July 2013 after a similar offence in Devon, when it was fined £20,000 with £17,000 costs at Barnstaple Magistrates’ Court.

HSE Inspector Catherine Pickett said after the latest hearing: “This was a very serious incident, which put both members of the public and employees at serious risk of being hit by rocks and could easily have led to death or serious injury.

“Blasting operations at quarries are potentially very dangerous. The risks must be rigorously controlled by good explosives engineering practice and in accordance with legal requirements.

“This is not the first time WCD Sleeman & Sons have been prosecuted for similar offences that have put people at considerable risk and I hope they take more heed of the lessons to be learned.”

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